Red Sands of the Orient
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Horses on the Mongolian Steppe
Taken in May 2011 just when the brown landscape was blooming green. These guys are part of a nomad’s herd and are not zerleg aduu (wild horses).
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This is my pal from Moscow, Zhenye. I believe that this is on or near the sand dune we saw in the steppe but it’s hard to be sure because I don’t remember. This is one of the many problems with developing your film two years after it was taken.
Shot in May 2011 somewhere west of Ulaanbaatar. (That I’m sure of)
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Inappropriate sand dune somewhere West of Ulaanbaatar. A single mound in the middle of the grassy steppe.
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A man fishing in the pollution of Beijing. Spring 2011. Around this time there were some articles being published about how the air quality in in Beijing was so horrid there wasn’t a measurement for it. The pollution was literally off the charts. Now, two years later, findings are saying it’s even worse. I don’t envy anyone breathing this.
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A town a few hundred kilometers west of Ulaanbaatar. We only stopped here to pick up diesel (or try to) for our journey in my friend’s ancient Land Cruiser 60. At the time we were traveling (spring 2011) there was a diesel shortage because Russia stopped sending fuel to Mongolia because of some international spat.
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Rainstorm in the South Gobi, summer 2011. We got a flat tire here near coal road on the way to huge Oyu Tolgoi mine. The rain met us and we got soaked changing to our spare.
The film has some wavy look in the contrast and I’m not sure what caused it. Maybe airport x-rays, heat from the Gobi’s sun, chemical error, or something I’d have no idea about it.
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Pretty Mongolian lady posing at bus stop for a photoshoot I was doing for a friend who manages an upscale German clothing shop in Ulaanbaatar.
Taken in late April or early May of 2011.
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On my spring 2011 trip to White Lake, Mongolia we stopped in this town for some diesel.
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In the east side of Ulaanbaatar looking into the ger district. This is semi-smokey decent day in early winter. It had just snowed recently and so the air wasn’t especially clogged with smog. If the pollution wasn’t there you’d be able to see the mountains that run south of the city.
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Dear friends of mine. Husband and wife who (was then) pregnant with her second child — a baby girl
(Source: kevin-vanier)
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Gachuurt is a popular spring and summer getaway for people in Ulaanbaatar and a common site in such places is an outdoor pool table. I suppose a part of the skill of playing billiards in the countryside is learning the crookedness of each table offers.
(Source: kevin-vanier)
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Cattle on a spring morning in Gachuurt, Mongolia.
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Ulaanbaatar City’s south side construction and gers.
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Horses in the countryside just north of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. July 2012
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An shamanistic ovoo (овоо) is a semi-religious pile of rocks, small change, and junk. They’re built on top of hills and mountains for offering safe passage and blessings to the sky.
Typically when approaching one in a auto the driver will go around it once while honking his horn. More superstitious drivers will circle three times
The crutches are there as thanks to a deity/spirit for healing an injury.
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